Keeping the Secret
by Angelina K
Summary: Someone is picking up signals from International Rescue on his radio, and it's the person who could cause the most damage to the organization without meaning to. What are the members of IR going to do? [chapter 3 added]
1. Chapter 1

Eddie Houseman looked around the room as he packed his suitcase. He was returning to his home for the next few weeks after the construction of a new road had been completed with flying colours. Now it was time for a relaxing vacation and the final stages of planning for his next assignment.  
  
The large transport machine he and his crew were being moved around the country in took an unexpected turn, causing Eddie to lose his balance and stumble into his dresser. The radio that had been tuned to one of his favourite stations fell off it and landed on the wooden floor with a loud crash. The music faded out as the radio connected with the ground and one of the speakers broke off the main structure and began rolling across the room. It lodged itself under Eddie's cot and he knelt down to try and fish it out.  
  
"Oh, great," he muttered to himself, realizing that it was against the back wall. He'd move the bed later, before he left, and retrieve the speaker.  
  
That was when Eddie heard the voices. He stood up and looked around, his eyes narrowing as he wondered where they were coming from. No one else was in the room with him, he was sure of that. But sure enough, someone was talking to someone else. He glanced down at the smashed radio on the floor and noted that it was still on, even though the music was no longer playing.  
  
Before Eddie could figure out what station his radio had switched to, a familiar voice crackled from the remaining speaker. It was blocked by static, but Eddie could recognize that tone anywhere. It was the voice of Tin-Tin Kyrano, a woman he'd once been involved with. Curious as to how she had come to be on the radio, Eddie slid down onto his stomach on the floor and put his ear to the amplifier to hear better. He would have picked it up, but he wasn't sure whether his radio would continue to get that station if he moved it.  
  
".Receiving you loud and clear, Scott. Virgil is lowering the grabs now." Tin-Tin's words blared into his ear as the static faded and another voice replaced hers. This one was deeper, more masculine.  
  
"FAB, Tin-Tin." There was a pause before the conversation began again. "Ten degrees to the left, Virg."  
  
Eddie was thoroughly confused now. He remembered visiting the island Tin- Tin and her father were presently living on and was now trying to remember who else had been residing in the massive house. There was another man, Mr. Tracy he recalled, and his sons. How many were there? Four when he had arrived, but he had a feeling from the way they had talked amongst themselves that there was another one. He pushed the thoughts from his mind as his conscience took over and he wondered if he was invading anyone's privacy by listening to the conversation.  
  
No, Eddie told himself, my radio tuned into this station by accident. It's just a coincidence that Tin-Tin happens to be using this to talk to other people. She doesn't know I'm hearing everything she says.  
  
"Close grabs.now!" The male voice was fairly familiar to Eddie, though he couldn't quite place his finger on who it could possibly belong to.  
  
"They're slipping, Scott! I don't think we can hold her much longer!" Tin- Tin came through to his ears again and Eddie couldn't help but wish things had worked out for them.  
  
Maybe I'll go visit the Tracy's again while I am on my holiday. I would sure love to see Tin-Tin again, Eddie thought as he listened intently. He couldn't figure out what exactly was going on, but from the urgent expression in the voices Eddie was sure it was some kind of emergency.  
  
A loud clatter came through the speakers, cutting off Tin-Tin's sentence as she said something about people in a railway car. Eddie heard her gasp before calling urgently, "Where is the crew?"  
  
"On the ground, in the other car. We'll douse that fire and head back to base."  
  
"FAB, Scott."  
  
Eddie didn't know what to think of the dialogue he was hearing, but he'd never heard anyone say 'FAB' in place of 'roger' before. It was a curious thing that Tin-Tin and her friends were discussing, and Eddie didn't have any reason not to keep listening in on their conversation.  
  
"Thunderbird One to Base and Thunderbird Two," came the man's voice again.  
  
Thunderbird. The word was well-known to Eddie, as he had been saved by International Rescue in their two huge crafts only a short while before. He wondered what Tin-Tin had to do with the ships, or whether it was International Rescue he was spying on.  
  
"This is base," the throaty voice triggered something else in Eddie's brain as he registered it as the father of the family Tin-Tin was living with.  
  
"Mission accomplished," there was the hint of a smile in the one Eddie now knew as Scott's voice. "Returning to base."  
  
"I'm right behind you." Another person came into the exchange and Eddie still had no idea what was going on.  
  
The talk ended and Eddie stared blankly at his busted radio. What had he just heard, and why was Tin-Tin a part of it? He didn't think it had anything to do with International Rescue, but he was interested all the same.  
  
At that moment, Eddie decided he was going to drop by and see precisely what was up on the island. He threw some extra clothes in his suitcase for the trip, knowing he'd be returning to the large road construction vehicle soon enough. I'll get one of my friends to fly me out tomorrow morning and go find Tin-Tin, Eddie thought. Maybe she'll take me instead of that wimpy Alan kid she had her eye on.  
  
+++  
  
Scott let out a whoop as he reappeared in the living room, a large grin on his face. "That was probably one of the most exciting rescues we've been on. The fact that we saved all those people is even better," he commented to his father, absently wiping mud off his cheek.  
  
Virgil came in a few minutes later, closely followed by Tin-Tin. They looked equally as happy as Scott. "I was so afraid when that car fell from the grabs. It would have been horrible if there had been people in it," she said.  
  
"Yeah, Scott, why did you have us move that part of the train if there was no one inside?" Virgil questioned, walking stiffly towards the couch. His uniform was covered in caked- on dirt and it looked like he had half the desert in his hair. The other two weren't much better.  
  
"I didn't realize it was empty at the time." As Scott went to sit down, Jeff instantly wrapped his arms around his son and boosted him back to his feet. Scott twisted and looked at him. "What was that for?"  
  
"You're a mess and a half. Take a shower before you do any relaxing," his father said, a ghost of a smile on his face. "Good job, boys." He turned back to his other son as he said it, and then glanced at Tin-Tin. "You're an asset to rescues lately, Tin-Tin."  
  
The young Malaysian woman blushed under the filth on her face and remembered that she had been a big part of the last mission the Tracy brothers had been on. If it hadn't been for her, two people would have died from drowning in the ocean off the coast of California.  
  
"Now, I want you all to clean up before supper." Jeff returned to his commanding self and the three found themselves immediately standing up straighter.  
  
"Yes, sir!" Scott gave his father a salute and hurried off to the bathroom to shower, leaving muddy footprints in his place.  
  
Tin-Tin followed and disappeared into her room while Virgil used the other free bathroom. Jeff watched them go, shaking his head at the mess their boots had made of the carpet. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Yes, father, I do believe the crooks have been nabbed." John was saying as Scott entered the living room the next morning. His brother was talking to Jeff via the screen that replaced his portrait on the wall.  
  
"What are you two talking about?" Scott wondered, picking up the newspaper the mail plane had dropped off a few hours before.  
  
"Two men robbed a bank in London last night, and John's been following the messages since this morning. He thinks the guys have been caught already." Jeff explained.  
  
"That's good," Scott answered, mindlessly flipping through the pages of the paper. When he didn't see anything that caught his eye, he put it down and sat on the couch.  
  
"Is something the matter, son?" His father asked.  
  
"Nope, not at all. Just a bit tired I guess."  
  
They looked up as Tin-Tin came in with a tray of tea. She placed it down and turned to Scott. "Brains wants to see you in the lab. He's picking up a strange signal and he needs a second pair of ears," she told him, pouring a cup for herself and Jeff.  
  
"I'm right on it." Scott left the room and the other two continued the friendly conversation with John.  
  
"What's going on, Brains?" Scott asked as he strode into the laboratory a few moments later.  
  
"I've got er, something u-u-unidentifiable on t-t-the radar." The engineer said. He turned on the speakers and let Scott listen to the waves of sound it was sending in their direction.  
  
"It sounds like it's an aircraft, rather than a boat. Is it?"  
  
"Y-Y-Yes, it's in the a-a-air."  
  
Scott knew he had heard the signal before. "Do you remember the last time we heard this sound from the scanner, Brains?"  
  
Brains didn't reply, he was running tests to try and find out what kind of plane made a sound like the one they were hearing. The scientist had created a new version of the radar to detect exactly what was approaching them so the members of International Rescue would know whether it would be a threat to the organization and what exactly they had to do to keep their secret safe.  
  
Gordon walked into the lab just then. "Hey, what's that noise?" He asked.  
  
"We're not sure. It's familiar though, do you know what it could be?"  
  
"Yeah, I've heard that one before. Wasn't it before someone visited the island? I can't remember when that was though," Gordon answered thoughtfully.  
  
The three men listened for a few minutes longer, seeing the little blip on the screen getting nearer and nearer to the island with each passing second. Then Scott and Gordon looked at each other wide-eyed, recognizing the sound at the same time.  
  
"Eddie!" They cried in one voice.  
  
Gordon and Scott took off, running back down the hall towards the living room.  
  
"Eddie Houseman is on his way!" Gordon said, looking around at everyone.  
  
Alan, who was watching TV from the couch, made a face. "Eddie?"  
  
"That's enough, Alan," Jeff warned as he sat down behind his desk.  
  
"Operation cover-up!" Chorused Virgil and Gordon with identical grins. They watched as the portraits of them in their uniforms gave way to casual ones along the wall.  
  
Tin-Tin came inside from where she had been on the deck. "What's going on?"  
  
The brothers looked at each other, knowing the subject of Eddie was something Tin-Tin hated talking about. Having him around wasn't going to be much better.  
  
"Eddie's coming for a visit," Scott told her.  
  
"Eddie? How come? Did he call? Are we expecting him?" Tin-Tin's expression changed slightly and she glanced at Alan, knowing how much the youngest Tracy despised the man.  
  
"We don't know why he's coming, Tin-Tin, but we weren't expecting him." Jeff answered.  
  
"Gordon, go get Virgil. I think he's touching up the paint on Thunderbird 2 after that run in with the palm trees last week. We'll have to make sure he's out of the hangar before Eddie gets here." Scott said.  
  
Gordon disappeared and found himself in Thunderbird 2's hangar a minute later. "Virgil!" He called.  
  
"Up here!"  
  
Gordon looked up to see his brother on his stomach on the nose of Thunderbird 2, going over a large scratch with his paintbrush and a tube of green paint. Virgil looked down at him, not the slightest bit worried at being so high off the ground without any means of help if he were to fall.  
  
"You'll have to finish that later, Virg. We're about to have a visitor."  
  
"Who?" Virgil slowly slid across the body of his craft until he was close enough to the ladder he had propped up against the side. Gordon held it as Virgil swung down, holding the paintbrush in his teeth.  
  
"Eddie Houseman."  
  
"What does he want with us?"  
  
"Beats me. His ETA is about six minutes, so we have to get upstairs and try and look like we're not waiting for another call." Gordon said.  
  
"And if we get one while he's here?"  
  
"Then we'll have to distract him or something." Gordon started for the door. "Are you coming?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm coming." Virgil stashed the paintbrush and tube in one of the buckets full of supplies for cleaning the ship and followed his brother back into the lounge.  
  
+++  
  
Eddie looked down at the island they were rapidly approaching out of the window of the airplane his friend Fred was piloting.  
  
"Who are these people you're visiting anyway, Eddie?" Fred asked.  
  
"Old friends." He answered blandly, wondering what Tin-Tin had been up to since he'd last seen her.  
  
"Who's the girl?"  
  
"What girl?"  
  
"I know you too well, Eddie Houseman. What girl are you chasing this time?" Eddie could almost hear the smirk in Fred's words.  
  
"Nobody you'd know, Fred."  
  
His friend laughed and the plane began its descent towards the island. Eddie thought he saw someone standing on the deck watching but they turned too quickly to be sure. The landing was smooth and within only a few minutes, Eddie found himself standing on the runway of Tracy Island, holding a small suitcase.  
  
The first person he saw was the father of the group, Mr. Tracy. Eddie smiled at him and shook his hand as they exchanged greetings. From above the cliff where Thunderbird 2 was hidden, the others watched, wondering why Eddie had come to their island when there clearly wasn't anything there for him anymore.  
  
"I wish you had called, Eddie. We would have made more effort to be prepared for your arrival," Jeff stated, leading the young man into the house.  
  
"No need to prepare anything for me, Mr. Tracy. I'm sorry I didn't give you any notice, but I just decided to come visit yesterday," Eddie replied.  
  
"What made you think of us?"  
  
"Well, I got this weird station on my radio and I could have sworn I heard your voice, and Tin-Tin's, and two of your sons' I believe. I don't know what to make of it, so I thought I could come and ask you."  
  
By now they had entered the living room and the four brothers casually sitting on the couches glanced at each other as they heard Eddie's last few sentences. Tin-Tin was perched like a statue on the arm of the chair Alan was sitting in and didn't even look up when Eddie and Jeff came into the lounge.  
  
Jeff peered at Scott and could see the alarm in his son's eyes. With a fleeting look, he silenced any comments the eldest boy would have said and turned back to Eddie. "Do you have the radio in question with you?"  
  
"Of course." Eddie opened his suitcase and pulled out a dented little box with a missing speaker. "It fell off my dresser, and that's when I began hearing your voices."  
  
"Are you sure it was us?"  
  
"I'm not positive, but nearly. I mean, I heard Tin-Tin loud and clear." He raised his eyes from the radio to her, just in time to see her looking uneasily at one of the sons - Virgil, Eddie recalled. "And she was saying your sons names. I heard you too, Mr. Tracy."  
  
Scott twisted around and looked at Virgil inquisitively. Virgil shrugged, just as curious as Scott as to what Eddie had heard. 


	3. Chapter 3

"You don't think. . ."  
  
"I don't know what to think, Tin-Tin. Whatever Eddie heard could put us in danger," Scott said after dinner that night.  
  
As Jeff had been examining the radio earlier that day, Grandma had come in to tell everyone dinner was ready. She was just in time and the strange things Eddie had picked up on his radio were forgotten while they enjoyed the marvelous food Kyrano and Grandma had come up with for supper.  
  
Afterwards, Tin-Tin had dashed to her room and Alan had gone down to the pool for a swim with Gordon. Scott had followed Tin-Tin and they presently sat on her bed talking about the predicament staring them straight in the face. They could hear the faint strains of Virgil's piano music from the living room.  
  
"Where do you suppose Eddie has gotten up to?" Tin-Tin wondered.  
  
"I don't know that either. I bet dad's keeping him occupied though, and if we're lucky, he'll have forgotten about his radio."  
  
"I doubt it."  
  
"How come?"  
  
"Eddie was never one to forget anything," Tin-Tin's cheeks reddened slightly but Scott pretended not to notice.  
  
A knock on the door startled him out of his reply and he stood to answer it, pulling it open once he reached it. Eddie stood on the other side, looking freshly cleaned in pleated black trousers and a crisp white shirt. He had a single flower in his hands, which Scott recognized as one of Grandma's tulips.  
  
Scott stepped back so Tin-Tin could see who was at the door and then looked over his shoulder, trying to decide whether he should leave them alone. Deciding it was best not to meddle in their business, Scott excused himself and left the room.  
  
He walked into the lounge where Virgil was still playing the piano and Alan was reading one of his favourite car racing magazines, his hair still damp from his swim. As he was about to choose a book from the bookshelf to occupy himself, Grandma bustled in, a look of distress on her face.  
  
"What's up, Grandma?" Alan forgot his magazine for a moment and peered up at his grandmother.  
  
"Oh, oh! Someone ate my blueberry transmitter!" She cried dramatically. "It was on the counter before dessert and now it's gone!"  
  
"Not again," Scott sighed, remembering the last time someone had eaten a transmitter. He had been glad it wasn't him, he hated the taste of that awful dissolvent Brains had created.  
  
"Who was it?" Virgil asked.  
  
"I haven't any idea! Did you eat it, Virgil?"  
  
"Me? No, all I had was that apple pie after my supper. I know what a transmitter looks like, Grandma. I wouldn't have eaten it unless it was in my food."  
  
"Turn on the tracking device, Scott." Alan instructed, seeing as his oldest brother was closest to the desk.  
  
Scott did as Alan said and the screen flashed before them, showing a rough map of the Tracy home. A little red dot showed up in the square marked as Tin-Tin's room and the boys looked at each other.  
  
"Tin-Tin ate it?" Alan wondered.  
  
Scott shook his head in dismay. "Not Tin-Tin. . ."  
  
"Eddie." Virgil finished, having seen the other man head down that hallway just before Scott emerged from it.  
  
"Why is Eddie in Tin-Tin's room?"  
  
"Will you just shut up about your jealousy for one moment, Alan?" Scott barked. Noticing the hurt look on Alan's face, he instantly felt bad. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. All I meant was that we now have to find a way to get Eddie to eat the dissolver or else we could have a serious problem on our hands."  
  
"How are we going to go about doing that?" Virgil wondered.  
  
"What if we told him it was like. . .some kind of miracle juice or something?"  
  
"Alan, would you believe that?"  
  
"Well, no, but Eddie has a peanut for a brain."  
  
Scott fought off the urge to smile. "What if we put it in something and had him drink it?"  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Maybe we could make a milkshake. Everyone loves milkshakes right?" Virgil suggested.  
  
"Good idea, Virg. First we have to make sure it really was Eddie. Call Tin- Tin, Alan."  
  
"How come I have to do it?" Scott glared at his brother and Alan immediately caved. "Fine, fine, I'll do it." He took a deep breath. "Tin- Tin!"  
  
She stuck her head out of her room and yelled, "Yes?" back down the hall.  
  
"Can you come here for a second please?"  
  
"Sure!" Tin-Tin came up to them, looking relieved at the excuse to leave Eddie for a while. "What is it?"  
  
Scott was studying the screen. The tiny dot hadn't moved. "Well, Tin-Tin didn't do it."  
  
"Do what?" She asked.  
  
"Eat the transmitter. We have to find a way to get Eddie to take the dissolver. Virg, can you go make a shake?"  
  
"Yes, boss." Virgil rolled his eyes and stood up from the piano, stretching cramped muscles, before going into the kitchen. Sometimes Scott's bossy attitude got the slightest bit annoying.  
  
"You can go back to your room now, Tin-Tin."  
  
"Do I have to?" She said, her reluctance obvious.  
  
Alan saw the opportunity and jumped up from the couch, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Come on, I'll go with you."  
  
She smiled at him, glad that she wouldn't have to be alone with Eddie any longer. The two walked slowly back down the hall, not in any hurry, and Scott turned off the tracking device.  
  
A loud crashing noise and then something that sounded like a choked bang made his head snap up. "Virgil?"  
  
"Where's Kyrano?" His brother yelled from the kitchen.  
  
"Out in the garden, why?" Scott called back.  
  
Virgil came back into the living room, covered in something that looked like milky ice cream. He had a sheepish expression on his face. "I forgot that I haven't made a milkshake since I was twelve."  
  
Scott laughed at the sight of the pilot covered in what would have been a milkshake, had the top of the blender not come flying off when he started it. He followed Virgil into the kitchen to clean up the mess, and then tried to make a replacement shake for Eddie.  
  
Ten minutes and two more tries later, the boys had managed to create a frothy chocolate milkshake, perfect for hiding transmitter dissolver in. Scott got some from the medicine cabinet in their father's bathroom and dumped in a generous helping after separating their creation into three large cups.  
  
"Why three?" Virgil asked when he saw what Scott was doing.  
  
"Wouldn't it look suspicious if Eddie was the only one getting a milkshake? The pink cup is doctored with the dissolver and the two blue ones aren't - they're for Alan and Tin-Tin."  
  
"Oh, I see." Virgil grabbed the two blue cups and left the pink one for Scott.  
  
Scott banged on Tin-Tin's door and a stressed out form of the young woman opened it. She looked at the cups cautiously, wondering what was going on.  
  
Scott was prepared for this. He slipped a small piece of paper into her hand, one that he had written on while the blender was on and then pushed past her to give one of the mugs of milkshake to Eddie. He accepted it graciously and took a large sip, making a face as he swallowed. He tried to hide it with a smile.  
  
"Thanks, Scott. What is in this exactly?"  
  
He stalled, acting as if he didn't remember the ingredients. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tin-Tin and Alan reading his note while Virgil gave them their glasses. Tin-Tin looked up at Scott and winked, then stuffed the note in her pocket before sitting back down on the bed. Scott returned his full attention to Eddie. "Well, I think there's ice cream, and vanilla and. . ."  
  
Tin-Tin cut him off. "It's wonderful." She took an enthusiastic sip for emphasis. "Thanks, boys."  
  
Eddie looked at Tin-Tin as if she had just sprouted another head. He didn't know that his version of the shake included a type of medicine he would never come in contact with again, and the Tracy brothers didn't plan on telling him. It tasted horrible, but he made the effort to drink as much as he could without grimacing, not wanting to appear ungrateful.  
  
A smug-looking Alan echoed Tin-Tin's praise and hid his grin in the depths of his tall glass. Virgil and Scott left them and went back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up after their 'cooking' episode.  
  
++++++++  
  
Sorry for the delay in chapters, everybody. :) I'll try to concentrate as much on this fic as I am on Torn. This one will definitely be much more of an adventure than that one!  
  
Angelina 


End file.
